The owner of a research services company with the top 100 law firms in the country as clients successfully converted the business to a web-based system which allowed it to compete with the “big guys.” Although smaller than competitors by all measures, he added successive technological features which required the large companies to match capability. Nevertheless, his business was too small to attract interest from prospective acquirers; and his offering was not sufficiently differentiated to prompt more than a portfolio offer.
The partners of Owner Transitions established an advisory board whose sole mission was to focus on the owner and guide him to make essential strategic changes which would ultimately lead to a strategic sale. With OT guidance, the owner made structural shifts, modified the sales and marketing models, and accelerated product development. With our assistance, the company designed an offering which enabled partners of national and regional law firms to advance their own practice development. By contacting one of the fastest growing and most profitable segments of a multi-national corporation, the owner was able to sell his company for substantially more than had he continued to grow marginally and succumb to a portfolio offer.
The rest of the story is that OT guided the owner through the very necessary process of what he would do post-sale. Today, he has a thriving consulting business and is the Chairman of the Board of one of the best commercial community banks in the country. And his golf game has improved monumentally.